Other games tonight include South Carolina (15-14) at Connecticut (19-11), North Carolina Wilmington (19-10) at Dayton (19-12), St. Bonaventure (18-11) at Pittsburgh (18-13) and Southern Mississippi (22-8) at Mississippi State (16-12).

South Alabama (22-10) plays Toledo (21-10) on Thursday and West Virginia (17-11) is at Richmond (21-6) Friday.

The players at Pepperdine (21-8) and Irvine (25-4), which has the best overall record in the tournament, could turn out to be first-round window dressing.

Tulsa (21-11) has averaged near sellouts this season at its 3-year-old, 8,300-seat Reynolds Center, where the Golden Hurricane went 13-2 this season.

"It will be a loud and boisterous crowd, you can be sure," Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said. "It will be good for our kids to play in that kind of atmosphere, to get the experience."

Wyoming's 8,000-seat Arena-Auditorium is known as the Dome of Doom because of its altitude (7,220 feet) and Wyoming's rabid following. It's not only difficult for flatlanders like the Waves to catch their breath, it's tough to hear. The Cowboys (20-9) have lost only one home game this season.

"Wyoming is a talented ball club and they will be a difficult team to beat on the road," Pepperdine Coach Jan van Breda Kolff said.